Pylades Overview - rjsmith/rsbatech-modules GitHub Wiki

This is the documentation of the RSBATechModules Pylades VCV Rack module and related TouchOSC controller preset.

The Pylades VCV Rack module provides external VCV Rack parameter control from TouchOSC with two-way display value and control label feedback, remote module switching, automapping etc. It works together with a custom TouchOSC preset called "Pylades", which you must have loaded and connected within TouchOSC running on your controller device.

First demo and mapping tutorial (Youtube)

Separate user guide pages for the module and the TouchOSC preset are linked below, followed by a list of main user workflows using them both together. The main idea is that once you have completed any module mapping you need to do for a Rack patch, you can then let go of your mouse and play the patch using only the TouchOSC preset.

Getting Started

  1. Install the Pylades module from the VCVRack library.

  2. Download and open the latest version Pylades TouchOSC preset in this repository touchosc folder:

  • Pylades v2.x.x.tosc - knobs needing vertical finger movements

  1. Add the Pylades module to a VCVRack patch (from the RSBATechModules plugin). Make sure you have an activated "Audio" module in your Rack (otherwise none of the connection and mapping code in Pylades will run).

  2. Open the TouchOSC Connections window "OSC" tab, set up a new UDP connection with:

    Host = IP address of the machine running VCVRack on your network

    Send Port = a free port on the machine running VCVRack on your network

    Receive Port = a free port on your TouchOSC device

    Zeroconf = "Default"

TouchOSC Controller

  1. Run the Pylades TouchOSC preset. It will show a warning that it is searching for a connection to a Pylades VCVRack module. The preset will check every five seconds.

TouchOSC Controller

  1. Configure the Pylades VCVRack module:

    OSC Sender address = IP address of the TouchOSC device on your network (NB: use the (i) button on the TouchOSC connections OSC tab to find out what the IP address is)

    OSC Sender port = the TouchOSC "Receive Port" set in step 4 above

    OSC Receiver port = the "Send Port" set in step 4 above.

  2. Click the Pylades OSC Sender and OSC Receiver buttons to enable the connections after making changes - both buttons should light up green. If this doesn't happen, you can try a few things:

  • Toggle the buttons off and on
  • Save the patch, close VCVRack and then re-start it
  • In the VCVRack log.txt file (in the main VCVRack installation folder), you should see log lines like this when Pylades has established network connections:
[4.175 info src/Pylades.cpp:550 senderPower] Started OSC Sender on port: 8886
[5.663 info src/Pylades.cpp:538 receiverPower] Started OSC Receiver on port: 8887
  1. After a few seconds, the Pylades TouchOSC preset should switch to show the current mapped controls, if any, on the Pylades module, else you will see an empty control page.

Now explore the control and mapping features in the TouchOSC preset and in the Pylades VCVRack module.

[!WARNING] The Pylades module and the TouchOSC preset have a built-in version check. This makes sure that the TouchOSC preset and its connected Pylades module will work together. The Major and minor versions of both must match (e.g. "v2.1" matches with "v2.1" but not with "V2.0 or v2.2") or you will see this warning:

Incompatible versions

If you see this, update either your TouchOSC preset or your RSBATechModules VCVRack plugin version so they match.